创业路演最容易出现的28个雷区

早期阶段的创业公司要想拿到融资，就必须要通过成功的项目路演吸引到投资人。但很多创业者在路演时要么显得没有经验，要么干脆就搞得一塌糊涂。

身为风投家和天使投资人，我听过的路演不计其数。我给创业者们列了一份清单，总结了路演过程中最容易犯的一些错误和需要避免的问题。

错误1：莫名其妙地寄来项目摘要或计划书

对于创业者“海投”式的电子邮件，投资人一般都不会看，而是直接删掉。因为他们会收到成百上千这样的邮件，他们不可能花时间一封封地去看能不能在里面找到宝贝。但你如果是他们这个圈子里的某个人推荐来的，他们还是会加以留心的——比如某位律师，或他们投资的某个公司的企业家，或者是另一位风投资本家。

错误2：除非你显然从事的是我感兴趣的行业，否则不要找我

有些投资人只对某一个领域的项目感兴趣，比如生物科技、移动应用、清洁能源或互联网和数字媒体等。你在联系我之前，最好先做做作业，确保你的公司从事的恰好是我感兴趣的领域。

错误3：给我一份50页的商业计划书让我看

我没时间先看一份50页的商业计划，再去决定值不值得跟你会面或跟进这个项目。请给我发一份2到3页的摘要，或是一份PPT。

错误4：没有向我展示为什么你的项目有较大的市场机会

大多数投资人都在寻找可以做大做强的企业。所以你要首先解答为什么你的公司可以做得很大这个问题。不要给我展示任何小点子。如果第一个产品或服务比较小，那么你可能需要把你的公司定义成一个能催生多个产品和应用的“平台”型企业。还有，我想知道你真正的目标市场是什么，以及随着时间的推移，你打算占据多大的市场份额。

错误5：带着团队参加路演，但只有CEO一人在讲话

投资者想知道你是否拥有一个好的团队。所以在路演的时候，只让CEO进行讲演，绝对是一个错误。如果其他团队成员不开口，投资人怎么确定这是一支好团队？还有就是不要让他们的发言自相矛盾。

错误6：跟我说你还没有任何竞争对手

如果你跟我说你没有任何竞争对手，我肯定会觉得你要么不切实际，要么太幼稚。你当然是有竞争对手的，不管这种竞争是直接还是间接的，又或许有其他人能够提供替代你的解决方案。另外，你对竞争对手的分析，也能表明你对市场是有理解的。

错误7：给我看无趣的或不切实际的预测

如果你向我预测道，在五年之内，你的公司的收益能达到500万美元，我可能还会有一丁点兴趣。我想投资的是一家能够显著增长的公司、一家令人兴奋的公司。但如果你向我预测道，你的收益在三年内就能达到500万美元，我只会觉得你不切实际，尤其是如果你目前的收益是0的话。另外，如果你的预测中的假设不能自圆其说的话——比如如果你打算在运营和营销成本只增长20%的情况下，就使收益增长400%，那么这种豪言壮语就不要对我说了。

错误8：在跟我分享信息之前，先要求我签保密协议。

大多数投资人都有不签保密协议这个不成文的习惯。既然你要找投资人，为什么要自己给自己设一块绊脚石呢？如果你有什么高度保密的东西，千万别跟我说。

错误9：对我的问题给出令人困惑或糟糕的答案。

创业者在给投资人做讲演之前，应该先找朋友或顾问练习一下。你需要对投资人的问题给出干脆利落的答案。另外，你必须提前想到投资人可能会问你哪些比较难回答的问题。如果你跟我说，“我回去了解一下再告诉你答案”，那就很难给我留下一个好印象。

如果我在问你问题，这是一个好迹象，说明我已经对你感兴趣了。所以，要尽量当场回答这些问题。在路演的时候，不要回避那些难以回答的问题，或者告诉我你打算等一会儿再回答。我就是想看看你的反应有多快。在路演的过程中，被投资人的问题打断是很正常的。

错误10:不告诉我你的公司解决的是哪些问题。

你的公司到底解决的是哪些问题？它重要吗？

错误11：对你的公司怀有不切实际的估值预期

如果你的公司刚刚成立三个礼拜，或者你的业务还没有什么起色，你就跟我说，你对你的公司的估值是1亿美元，那么咱们之间的对话可能很快就会结束了。通常来说，在和投资人第一次会面时最好不谈估值，只说你对估值是理性的就可以了。

错误12：陈词滥调

在言语间要避免以下这些话：

“我们需要的只是1%的市场。”（你未必能达到。）

“使用量会相当火爆。”（除非有早期的证据能够证实，否则这番话很难让人相信。）

“这个产品自己就是活广告。”（不，它不是。）

“连谷歌都会想要收购我们。“（或许吧，反正我看可能性不大。）

“我们的预测数字比较保守。”（但是只有在这时候，我才想听到创业者对我说：“我们的预测数字极为乐观。”）

错误13：PPT超过20页

你的路演最多只有一个小时时间。所以如果你的PPT做得太长，就会影响路演的明快感，而且你也根本没有时间讲解到最后几页。如果投资人对你的项目产生了兴趣，你可以事后再向他提供更多信息。

错误14：忘了强调团队成员的经验和资历

很多投资人都认为，对于一家创业公司来说，它的团队要比它的创意或产品更重要。投资者很想知道，你的团队是否拥有正确的技能、动机、经验甚至脾气秉性来推动公司的成长。我想看到的是你的团队是否有热情去做一件真正独特和伟大的事。所以你在讲演中可能会问被到以下问题：

公司的创始人和核心团队成员是谁？

你的团队在相关领域有什么经验？

在短期内，你的团队需要加入哪些核心成员？

你的团队有什么独特之处，能够执行好公司的商业计划？

你有多少名员工？

创始人的动机是什么？

在接下来的12个月，你打算如何扩大你的团队？

错误15：不重视细节

首先，要确保你的演示文稿里没有错别字或自相矛盾的地方。其次，要制作一份文笔流畅、视觉效果吸引人的演示文稿。要记得给你的PPT标上页码，让我能轻松地回顾某一页的内容。为了保护你的合法权益，你可以在PPT末页底部写上版权声明，加上“保密与隐私”这种话。

错误16：没有样品

“样品胜千言”。请向我展示你的原型产品，或者是你的产品、应用和网站的演示效果。这能让我更好地理解你究竟想做什么。请尽量保证它的运行效果良好，不要有bug。另外，要尽量用它的外观和感觉来征服我。

错误17：对投资者和他的投资组合不做调查

如果你向我表明，你对我的背景和我投资的公司有所了解，会对我们之间的谈话有一定的裨益。另外最好向我表明，你已经针对此会面做了一些尽职调查。

错误18：没有看过其他演示文稿和项目摘要

参考一下其它的演示文稿和项目摘要，可以有助你改进你自己的作品。你可以请你的律师、其他创业者或是做天使投资人的朋友为你提供一些样品。另外网上也有很多样品可供参考，比如Mint.com上就有一些，这家创业公司最后以1.7亿美元的价格被财捷集团（Intuit）收购。

错误19：不了解招揽顾客的成本和顾客的长期价值

如果你了解关于如何招揽顾客或用户的问题，我可能会对你产生兴趣。也就是说，如果你想招揽到一名顾客，需要付出多少成本？这名顾客的生命周期价值是多少？你打算使用什么渠道来招揽用户或顾客？这将给你造成多少营销成本？从与顾客初次接触，到最后达成销售，中间的销售周期一般是多长？如果你对这些问题准备得不充分，会让我觉得你对你的商业计划考虑得不周到。

错误20：不了解公司的潜在风险

在讲演中，我会想测试一下，看你知不知道你的公司的潜在风险是什么。我想了解你的思考过程，以及你会采取哪些措施消弥这些风险。任何商业计划都不可避免地存在一定的风险，所以你要仔细考虑如何回答以下问题：

你认为你的公司有哪些主要风险？

你的公司在法律上有什么风险？

你的公司在技术上有什么风险？

你的公司在监管上有什么风险？

你的公司是否有任何产品责任风险？

你打算采取哪些步骤消弥这些风险？

错误21：不能解释你的预测中的主要假设

为了让我相信你的财务预测，我会让你详细解释你做出的一些主要假设，并且你还得让我相信这些假设是合理的。我会针对这些假设中的数字提问，而且我希望你能给出令人信服的、经过深思熟虑的答案。

错误22：没有解释清楚为什么你的产品和技术与竞争对手存在差异

我想知道相比现有竞争对手的产品或技术，你的产品或技术强在哪里，或者有哪些差异。要知道，我很可能对竞争产品和技术有一定的了解，所以你必须要好好回答。比如：“我们跟Instagram相比有以下三个重要的差异：1.我们更易于使用；2.我们有比它更好的编辑功能；3.我们生钱的速度比它快。”

错误23：不能讲述出一个清晰的营销战略

能够做出一个好东西，并不代表你就能把它卖出去，或是用户就会用它。所以我会关心你打算怎样对你的产品或服务做营销。你打算使用哪种展示渠道？你打算怎样以具有成本效益的方式接触到目标客户？你打算怎样使用Facebook、Twitter、LinkedIn和Pinterest等社交媒体？你打算怎样做内容营销，在BusinessInsider.com、Fobes.com和AllBusiness.com这些网站上发软文？你会去做搜索引擎营销吗，你能证明它有效果吗？你打算采取哪些步骤让你的产品快速卖出去，或者让用户迅速采用？

错误24：不告诉我你的产品或服务取得了哪些早期反响

别忘了向我展示你的产品或服务获得了哪些早期反响，尤其是知名网站或出版物上的评价。请在一张PPT页面上附上这些文章的标题，并且注明有多少篇文章、多少份出版物提到了你的公司。

错误25：不告诉我你的公司已经获得了哪些上升动力，或是目前拥有多少顾客

对我来说，最重要的一件事就是你的公司是否已经有了上升动力，或是有了受顾客欢迎的迹象。如果你做了一款手机应用，那么你的下载量是多少？每周新增的下载量又是多少？如果你是一家软件公司的话，是否已经有某家知名公司成为了你的用户？你的早期上升动力能够如何加速？你获得这种上升动力的主要原因是什么？记住，要向我展示你打算如何扩大这种早期的上升动力。

错误26：不能告诉我你打算将我的资金如何进行投资，以及需要多长时间

我肯定想知道我的钱是如何被投资的，以及你计划的烧钱速率是多快（这样我就能明白什么时候你可能需要下一轮融资）。同时我也能根据你的资本需求来了解你的融资计划是否合理。另外，这也能使我结合对其他公司的投资经验，评估你的预期成本（比如工程人员聘用成本、营销成本、办公成本等）是否合理。

错误27：没有向我兜售你的知识产权

对于很多公司来说，他们的知识产权都是公司能否成功的一个关键因素。投资人会特别注意你对以下这些问题的答案：

你的公司拥有哪些核心知识产权？（如已有专利、正在申请的专利、版权、商业秘密、商标、域名等）

你有哪些法律依据表明你的知识产权没有侵害第三方的权益？

你的公司的知识产权是如何开发出来的？

有没有可能你的某个团队成员之前任职的企业会对你的知识产权提出要求？

错误28：对产品或服务解释得不够好

创业者必须清晰明确地阐述产品或服务的构成，以及它的独特之处在哪里。所以你很可能会被问到以下问题：

用户为什么会注意到你的产品或服务？

对于你的产品来说，最重大的发展节点是什么？

你的产品或服务的主要差异因素是什么？

你从你的产品或服务的早期版本中了解到了什么？

你打算添加的两三个核心功能是什么？

你打算每隔多久对产品或服务进行更新或升级？

结论

并非所有这些错误都是致命的。随着你不断练习，并且有了更多向顾问和投资人进行路演的经验，你也会逐渐了解到他们关心什么、不关心什么。最后，记住一定要根据这些经验和教训对你的PPT、项目摘要和讲演内容进行修改。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

Entrepreneurs from early stage startups have to pitch to investors to raise financing, and many entrepreneurs are inexperienced or terrible at making the presentation.

As a venture capital and angel investor who has heard many pitches, I’ve compiled a list of mistakes and things to avoid if you are an entrepreneur seeking angel or venture financing.

Mistake #1: Sending me your executive summary or business plan unsolicited.

Investors routinely discard or don’t read unsolicited emails. They get hundreds if not thousands of such emails, and they can’t spend the time sifting through them all to find that diamond in the rough. But what they will pay attention to is a referral from someone in their network — a lawyer, an entrepreneur from one of their portfolio companies, or a fellow venture capitalist.

Mistake #2: Pitching me your company unless it’s clear that you are in a space I am interested in.

Some investors only care about biotech. Or mobile apps. Or clean tech. Or Internet and digital media. Do your homework first before trying to pitch me to make sure your company is in my sweet spot.

Mistake #3: Giving me a 50-page business plan to review.

I don’t have the time to review a 50-page business plan up front to decide whether it’s worth taking a meeting or following up. Give me a 2-3 page executive summary and maybe a PowerPoint deck.

Mistake #4: Not showing me why the market opportunity is big.

Most investors are looking for businesses that can scale and become meaningful. So make sure you address this issue right up front as to why your business can really become big. Don’t present any small ideas. If the first product or service is small, then perhaps you need to position the company as a “platform” business allowing the creation of multiple products or apps. I will want to know the actual addressable market and what percentage of the market you plan to get over time.

Mistake #5: Coming in with your team to a pitch meeting, but only have the CEO speak.

Investors want to know that you have a good team. Only having the CEO speak at a pitch meeting is a mistake. How will the investor gauge whether the other team members are any good if they don’t hear them speak? And please don’t have the team members contradict themselves.

Mistake #6: Telling me you don’t have any competition.

Telling me you have no competition likely says you are unrealistic or naive. Of course you have competition, whether direct, indirect. or someone who provides a substitute solution. And your analysis of your competitors will show me you have an understanding of the market.、

Mistake #7: Showing me uninteresting or unrealistic projections.

If you show me projections for the company to become $5 million in revenue in five years, I will have little interest. I want to invest in a company that can grow significantly and become an exciting business. Alternatively, if you show me projections where you are at $500 million in three years, I will just think you are unrealistic, especially if you are at zero in revenues today. Avoid assumptions in your projections that will be difficult to justify, such as how you will get to a 400% growth in revenue with only a 20% growth in operating and marketing costs.

Mistake #8: Asking me to sign an NDA before you will share information with me.

Most investors have a policy not to sign non-disclosure agreements. Why would you want to put a hurdle in front of being able to connect with an investor? And if you have something highly confidential, don’t share it with me.

Mistake #9: Giving me confusing or bad answers to my questions.

Entrepreneurs should practice their pitch with friends and advisors before presenting to an investor. You need to be prepared to give crisp answers to questions. You have to anticipate the difficult questions you may get. Telling me that “you will get back to me with an answer” seldom leaves a good impression. If I am asking you questions, that’s a good sign that I am engaged. So do your best to answer them right away. Don’t evade the hard questions or tell me that you will get to it later in the presentation. I want to see if you can think on your feet. Expect to get interrupted during your presentation.

Mistake #10: Not telling me what problem your business solves.

What problem does your business solve? Does it matter at all?

Mistake #11: Presenting unrealistic valuation expectations for your company.

If you tell me you want a $100 million valuation when you started the business three weeks ago, or don’t have much traction yet, the conversation will likely end very quickly. Often, it’s best not to discuss valuation in a first meeting other than to say you expect to be reasonable on valuation.

Mistake #12: Giving me clichés.

Phrases to avoid:

“All we need is 1% of the market” (unlikely you will get that)

“We will get huge viral usage” (unless you show me early traction, that will be difficult to believe)

“This product will market itself” (no, it won’t)

“Google will want to buy us” (maybe, but not likely)

“Our projection numbers are conservative” (just once I would like to hear an entrepreneur say, “Our projections are wildly optimistic”).

Mistake #13: Having more than 20 slides in your PowerPoint deck.

You will have an hour at most to make your pitch. So overloading your PowerPoint deck with too many slides will cut into the crispness of the presentation, and you won’t have time to get to the slides at the end of your deck. If an investor is interested, you can always provide more detailed information later.

Mistake #14: Forgetting to highlight your team’s experience and credentials.

Many investors consider the team behind a startup more important than the idea or the product. The investors will want to know that the team has the right set of skills, drive, experience, and temperament to grow the business. I want to be shown all of this together with a passion to do something truly great and unique. Anticipate these questions:

Who are the founders and key team members?

What relevant domain experience does the team have?

What key additions to the team are needed in the short term?

Why is the team uniquely capable to execute the company’s business plan?

How many employees do you have?

What motivates the founders?

How do you plan to scale the team in the next 12 months?

Mistake # 15: Not paying attention to detail.

Make sure your presentation doesn’t contain typos or inconsistencies. Present a well-written, visually interesting presentation. Include page numbers on each slide so I can easily reference a specific page. For your legal protection, put a copyright notice at the bottom and add the phrase “Confidential and Private.”

Mistake #16: Not doing a demo.

A demo is worth a thousand words. Show me a prototype or working demo of your product, app, or website. It will give me a better sense of what you are trying to do. Make sure it works well and isn’t buggy. Impress me with its look and feel.

Mistake #17: Not doing research on the investor and his portfolio.

Showing some awareness of my background and the companies I am invested in will facilitate parts of the conversation, and also shows you have done some advance due diligence for the meeting.

Mistake #18: Not looking at other pitch decks and executive summaries.

Looking at other pitch decks and executive summaries can help you improve your own. You can ask your lawyer or entrepreneur or angel investor friends for samples. Plenty are available on the Web, such as the deck for Mint.com, a startup that sold to Intuit for $170 million.

Mistake #19: Not understanding customer acquisition costs and long-term value of the customer.

I will be interested in your understanding of customer or user acquisition issues. What costs will you incur to acquire a customer? What will be the likely lifetime value of the customer? What channels will you use to acquire that user or customer? What marketing costs will you incur? What is the typical sales cycle between initial customer contact and closing of a sale? Not being prepared for those types of questions will hurt my perception of how well you have thought out your business plan.

Mistake #20: Not understanding the potential risks to the business.

I will want to test what you see are the risks to the business. I want to understand your thought process and the mitigating precautions you might take. There inevitably are risks in any business plan, so be prepared to answer these questions thoughtfully:

What do you see are the principal risks to the business?

What legal risks do you have?

What technology risks do you have?

Do you have any regulatory risks?

Are there any product liability risks?

What steps do you anticipate to mitigate such risks?

Mistake #21: Not being able to explain the key assumptions in your projections.

In order for me to believe your financial projections, I will want you to articulate the key assumptions and convince me they are reasonable. If you can’t do that, then I won’t feel you have a real handle on the business. I will push back on the numbers in the assumptions and I will want you to have a cogent, thoughtful response.

Mistake #22: Not articulating why your product or technology is differentiated from a competitor.

I will want to know why your product or technology is better than or different from what is already out there. You can assume I will know about competitive products or technology, so you need to have a good response. For example, “We are different from Instagram in three important ways: (1) we are easier to use; (2) we have better editing functions; and (3) we are monetizing earlier than Instagram was able to.”

Mistake #23: Not being able to articulate a coherent marketing strategy.

Just because you build something great doesn’t mean it’s going to sell or get user adoption. So I will care about your plans to market your product or service. What outlets are you going to use? How can you cost-effectively get to prospective customers? How will you use social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.? Will you do content marketing and put sponsored posts on sites like BusinessInsider.com, Forbes.com, and AllBusiness.com? Will you do search engine marketing and can you show it will be productive? What steps will you take to get some rapid sales or adoption of your offering?

Mistake #24: Not telling me what early buzz or press you have gotten.

Don’t forget to show me any early buzz or press you have received, especially from prominent sites or publications. Feature the headlines in a slide on your deck. List the number of articles and publications mentioning you.

Mistake #25: Not telling me what traction or customers you have already gotten.

One of the most important things for me will be signs of any early traction or customers. If you have an app, how many downloads have you gotten and how many additional ones are you getting a week? Have you gotten any brand-name customers if you are a software company? How can the early traction be accelerated? What has been the principal reason for the traction? Show me how you can scale this early traction.

Mistake #26: Being unable to tell me how you will invest my investment capital and how long it will last.

I will absolutely want to know how my capital will be invested and your proposed burn rate (so that I can understand when you may need the next round of financing). It will also allow me to test whether your fund-raising plans are reasonable given the capital requirements you will have. And it will allow me to see whether your estimate of costs (e.g., for engineering talent, for marketing costs, or office space) is reasonable given my experiences with other companies.

Mistake #27: Not selling me on your intellectual property.

For many companies, their intellectual property will be a key to success. Investors will pay particular attention to your answers to these questions:

What key intellectual property does the company have (patents, patents pending, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, domain names)?

What comfort do you have that the company’s intellectual property does not violate the rights of a third party?

How was the company’s intellectual property developed?

Would any prior employers of a team member have a potential claim to the company’s intellectual property?

Mistake #28: Not explaining the product or service well enough.

The entrepreneur must clearly articulate what the company’s product or service consists of and why it is unique, so expect to get the following questions:

Why do users care about your product or service?

What are the major product milestones?

What are the key differentiated features of your product or service?

What have you learned from early versions of the product or service?

What are the two or three key features you plan to add?

How often do you envision enhancing or updating the product or service?

Conclusion

Not all of these mistakes are fatal. And as you practice and make more presentations to advisors and investors, you will learn what they care about and what doesn’t resonate with them. So make sure to adapt your PowerPoint deck, Executive Summary, and presentation from these learnings.